Category Archives: News

Camilo Parada, a new Masters student in Dr Lina Quesada-Ocampo’s lab, received a travel award to attend the Oomycete Bioinformatics Training Workshop June 2-4, 2015 in Blacksburg, Virginia. This is the workshop website: http://oomycete-training.org/

Melinda James, President, and Randall Patterson, member, of the Board of Directors North Carolina Tomato Growers Association, along with Frank Louws, Professor of Plant Pathology and colleague for over 19 years, celebrate the service award given to Jim Driver, SPA employee in the Department of Plant Pathology holds the Award of Service given to Jim Driver at the 47th Annual Meeting and Winter Vegetable Conference and Trade Show. February 26 2015, Asheville NC.

The plaque reads: Presented to Jim Driver In appreciation for your many years of service, dedication and support of the tomato industry in North Carolina by the NC Tomato Growers Association 2015.

Lucky Mehra, current President of the NCSU Plant Pathology Graduate Student Association, presents a commemorative plaque to Dr. Mary Hausbeck of Michigan State University for her invited presentation at the annual Rosie Perez Memorial Seminar. This graduate student-sponsored seminar is named in honor of a former student in NCSU Plant Pathology, the late Rosie Perez. The Plant Pathology graduate students deliberate on the choice of speaker every year, and this year Dr, Hausbeck was chosen to present based upon her outstanding faculty career as a vegetable and ornamental extension plant pathologist at MSU. Dr. Hausbeck is a Professor in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences that has earned a Distinguished Faculty Award from the MSU Agriculture and Natural Resources Alumni Association, the Alex Laurie Award from the Society of American Florists, the outstanding MSU Extension Specialist Award, the Beal Outstanding Faculty Award from MSU, and the Master Farmer Associate Award from the Michigan Vegetable Council. She has been awarded the Excellence in Extension Award from the American Phytopathological Society and was elected as a Fellow of APS in 2014. The title of Dr. Hausbeck’s presentation was “A smorgasbord of vegetable diseases is on today’s menu”.

Congratulations to Andrew Scruggs who won the award for best Masters oral presentation at the National Sweetpotato Collaborators Group Annual Conference, January 24-25, 2015, Nashville, TN. The tittle of his presentation was “Epidemiological conditions that promote Rhizopus soft rot and Fusarium root rot on sweet potato”.

Anna Thomas is the recipient of the 2015 Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship Fund from the APS Foundation. The Raymond J. Tarleton Student Fellowship Fund was established by Raymond J. Tarleton in 2009 to support graduate students in plant pathology research and encourage students to further their careers in plant pathology. The award which is $1,000 will be presented to her during the 2015 APS Annual Meeting in Pasadena, CA. She plans to use these funds in her graduate research work that focuses on the epidemiology and population genetics of Pseudoperonospora cubensis that causes downy mildew of cucurbits. She is co-advised by Drs. Peter Ojiambo and Ignazio Carbone.

Congratulations to Dr. Ignazio Carbone for his selection as a 2014-15 NCSU University Scholar! The annual University Faculty Scholars Program was established in 2012 by Chancellor Woodson to recognize and reward emerging academic leaders among our faculty. Dr. Carbone is among eighteen NCSU faculty members that were honored as University Scholars in this third group of recipients. The recognition comes with a significant award supplement and will be formally presented in a university ceremony in early 2015.

Dr. Carbone is recognized as a world authority and driving force in contemporary evolutionary genetics that is highly valued by his peers at NCSU and abroad as a leader and collaborator. At the time of his promotion to associate professor with tenure in 2008, Dr. Carbone received the C.J. Alexopoulos Prize from the MSA as outstanding early career mycologist. In 2009 Dr. Carbone received the Syngenta Award from the American Phytopathological Society (APS) for excellence in scholarship during his first decade in a plant pathology career. He was recognized for research excellence by NCSU with the Stewards of the Future Outstanding Research Award in 2012. Most recently, he was selected to receive the 2014 Ruth Allen Award from APS for innovative research that has the potential to change the direction of research in any field of plant pathology. In total, Dr. Carbone is valued as an outstanding teacher, researcher, and faculty mentor of students and young professionals – he is truly a consummate scholar in every sense and most deserving of recognition as University Faculty Scholar.

The Gerald O. Mott Scholarship is provided to a meritorious graduate student in crop science. The scholarship is supported by gifts from the Gerald O. Mott family to the Agronomic Science Foundation and is Administered by the Crop Science Society of America. Joseph is a graduate student in the Plant Pathology Program at NC State. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on understanding the etiology of bacterial diseases in turfgrass systems and developing management options to reduce bacterial etiolation. In addition to his dissertation research, Joseph has mentored multiple undergraduate students participating in research experiences, instructed undergraduate and graduate level courses, and participates regularly in community outreach events to illustrate the excitement of science to younger generations.